Almost like the Red Sox were giving the Orioles the proverbial bathroom swirlie during an entire weekend of baseball, right? Like they were toying with the O's like a cat yanks a ball of yarn, goofing around while at the same time hoping not to get tangled in the awfulness of it

Every team gets games against bad teams, and it's good to see that the Red Sox took care of business over the weekend, winning behind a standout performance by Clay Buchholz on Friday night and big offense on Saturday and Sunday (a combined 20 runs).

Combine that with the recent awfulness of the Rangers and Rays, and the Red Sox have all but sewed up the American League Wild Card, considering they now lead by eight games in the standings. That gives the Red Sox ample opportunity to make sure Daisuke Matsuzaka is ready to start Game 4 of any playoff series and to rest veteran players like Mike Lowell and JD Drew and make sure they are at full strength for the postseason.

A few things to point out about the weekend series:

-- Jacoby Ellsbury went 6 for 14 with two walks, a home run, a double, four RBI and two stolen bases, giving him 63 this season. Much like in 2007, he's beginning to peak just in time for the playoffs.

-- Jason Bay has decided to start raking early this year for fall, hitting .333/.410/.685 so far this month with five home runs and 15 RBI in 17 games played. on the heels of an August in which he hit .289/.400/.697, that's promising to see, and makes it clear that his awful July is probably a thing of the past.

-- With a free pass Saturday, Alex Gonzalez has now walked as many times as a member of the Red Sox this season (two) as someone like Jason Bay does in a typical game. Somehow, though, Gonzalez is still picking up key hits.

-- The Red Sox beat the Orioles in 16 out of 18 games this season. Anybody remember the losses? I certainly remember one of them: the biggest comeback victory for the Orioles in their team's history.